Landing in Mumbai were Saurav Ganguly, Sadagoppan Ramesh, Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath, Nayan Mongia and Debasis Mohanty with manager Brijesh Patel.

Talking to mediapersons on arrival, manager Brijesh Patel cited inconsistency as one of the reasons for the team's failure to reach the semi-finals. ``The loss to Zimbabwe proved crucial. Even the points system ended up against us.''

While maintaining that not winning the cup was highly ``disappointing'', Patel noted the tournament did have it's share of gains for the team.

``Rahul Dravid and Ajay Jadeja were the successes of the event,'' noted the former Test cricketer while acknowledging the efforts of Mohanty and Ganguly.

Though batting was an area of worry for Indians when they left forEngland, the batsmen rose to the occasion. But there were other areas in which the team was found wanting. When quizzed, Patel admitted: ``We need to work hard on our fielding and bowling.''

Patel also stressed the necessity of an improved domestic circuit which seems to have taken a backseat for quite some time now. ``I guess we can cut down on our international assignments also...like trim the number of matches we play at Toronto.''

A better and well-planned domestic circuit would go a long way in identifying the Test and limited-overs players, he added.

In sharp contrast to their much-hyped departure, the team's arrival was a low-key affair. The absence of some of the key players -- including skipper Mohammed Azharuddin, Sachin Tendulkar, Dravid and Jadeja, who will return at a latter date -- acted as dampener.

The team was received by Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) executive secretary Sharad Diwadkar and Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) secretary Prof Ratnakar Shetty.

Southpaw AmayKhurasia, who did not play a single match, and Nikhil Chopra landed today in Delhi while Venkatesh Prasad had returned home a day earlier, citing personal reasons.

Even though the Indian team's run at the World Cup ended in a large-scale disappointment, all does not seem to be lost for our cricketers. They can definitely take heart from the presence of their fans, few but die-hard, who braved rains and the unearthly hour of arrival (3.00 a.m.) to cheer their heroes.

While Mongia's arrival rendered the air with `Aai-ga', the sight of Ganguly saw a smart-alec yell, `Saurav..peele, peele' -- an imitation of Shahrukh Khan in a cola advertisement.

On Sunil Gavaskar's comments that the Indians were instructed to finish off the match against Zimbabwe in the 45th over itself, Ganguly said: ``I am not aware of any such thing.''

Half the crowd comprised mediamen -- reporters, cameramen and TV crew. With the players made to come out from a small side exit, a melee ensued between the mediamen,trying to get a picture or a quote, and the onlookers eager to catch a glimpse of the players.

Things calmed down only when the players left in the team bus for their stop-over at a local hotel from where they are scheduled to leave for their respective destinations.